Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0Hazard risk in Paintearth County No. 18 is lower than in 87% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Paintearth County No. 18’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Paintearth County No. 18’s survey area, 7.5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Paintearth County No. 18 a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Paintearth County No. 18’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Paintearth County No. 18: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Paintearth County No. 18 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Paintearth County No. 18: A
The grade weighs Paintearth County No. 18’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Paintearth County No. 18 has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Paintearth County No. 18’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Paintearth County No. 18 is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest fuel is scarce around Paintearth County No. 18: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 479
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Paintearth County No. 18, as for 387 of the 479 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list at 1.43%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Paintearth County No. 18 sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Paintearth County No. 18
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Paintearth County No. 18: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Paintearth County No. 18 on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Paintearth County No. 18; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Paintearth County No. 18.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Paintearth County No. 18 just $0.008 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Paintearth County No. 18’s $0.008 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Alberta: Paintearth County No. 18’s $0.008 against a median of $0.013; Black Diamond has $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Paintearth County No. 18 is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The loss is to Paintearth County No. 18’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.5% of homes tested around Paintearth County No. 18 are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
Around Paintearth County No. 18, 7.5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Paintearth County No. 18’s area, at 7.5%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Paintearth County No. 18’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Paintearth County No. 18 can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Paintearth County No. 18
Alerts for Paintearth County No. 18 come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Paintearth County No. 18 to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Paintearth County No. 18 faces
What to do about the hazards Paintearth County No. 18 faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Paintearth County No. 18 floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Paintearth County No. 18’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Paintearth County No. 18’s.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Paintearth County No. 18 sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Paintearth County No. 18
How big is the earthquake risk in Paintearth County No. 18?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Paintearth County No. 18’s buildings lose $0.008 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Paintearth County No. 18’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
18 A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Paintearth County No. 18 at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Paintearth County No. 18 since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Paintearth County No. 18 flood?
Nothing is listed for Paintearth County No. 18 on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Paintearth County No. 18?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.5% of 107 homes tested in Paintearth County No. 18’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).